To those we've lost
by Daldove
Summary: Picks up where "It's a small world" left off.


I don't own them. Just love them and wish they were still around.

This is what I think could have happened just after "It's a small world". Picks up where the eppy left off. Let me know what you think. :-)

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Darien had to get out. He heard Hobbes coming after him but didn't want to see him. Didn't want to talk or listen to him. He wanted to be alone. Allianora was gone. She died in his arms. _"Just like Kevin…"_

He ran out the front doors of the Harding Building and quicksilvered, not caring if anyone saw him do so. He needed to think in peace.

He knew Hobbes would check his apartment and a few of his hang outs. So he went to the only place that made sense, one of the last places they'd look for him.

He sat with his arms resting on his knees, in front of his brother's grave staring at the cold hunk of marble ahead of him. He thought to himself _'Everyone I get close to dies. Every life I touch turns to crap. I can't escape that fact. I don't know why this keeps happening to me.'_

"Why'd you do it, Kev? Why'd you pick me to put this damn gland in anyway? It's brought nothing but pain and death to my life. I could've handled being in prison. But not this, man. Not this." The image of Allianora's cold dead eyes was forever burned into his memory. So much like Kevin's lifeless eyes. He could still feel the limp weight of their bodies in his arms. It was too much. The tears flowed freely down his face, his breath coming in sobs. He could still smell her perfume, "Lady Of The Lake". He could feel her skin touching his, her caresses as he kissed her soft flesh beneath him. That intimacy was something he'd been needing in his life. Someone who knew his secret. Someone he didn't have to hide from or lie to. Someone he could connect with. Someone who understood. Did he love her? No, not true love. But he had felt connected to her. He felt that, if they had been on the same side, he could be completely open with her. Maybe love would have come in the future. But that future would never come now. She was gone. Just like Kevin was gone. He was alone again. All he had left were those at The Agency and he couldn't open himself up to them. They had trapped him into a life of servitude. He hated them for that. There were times he could almost consider Hobbes his friend but it wasn't the same. Hobbes was tainted by the Agency. He needed a connection outside of that place. Allianora had been that connection. She had been experimented on, changed to something other then normal, just like himself. "Manufactured Freaks" she'd called them. She'd been right. They were two of a kind. Able to understand each other in a way no one else in the world possibly could. Kindred spirits. He missed her terribly.

Had Claire been right to take the nano-bot sample from Allianora? Had she had the right to harvest from her like she was nothing more then a thing, another lab rat to disect? Is that what Allianora would have wanted? She had known what would happen to her when she'd pulled him from the pool. She had known saving his life would cost her own. Would she have wanted to be harvested from as well? He had to believe so. There was good in her. She had wanted to be one of the good guys. She'd proved that by saving him more then once. Yes, She would have approved of the sample being taken to save him. But accepting that didn't make it any easier.

The wind picked up, blowing leaves across the graves. Clouds had started to roll in. He closed his eyes, tears still flowing, and raised his head into the breeze. The wind wiped his tears away and caressed his face, whipping his hair this way and that way. He breathed deeply and sighed. "I guess some people are meant to walk alone." He said aloud to no one. He looked back at the stone that represented his brother's final resting place. "If she's there with you, Bro, take good care of her. She deserves the kindness she never got while here. And tell her I hope to see her again one day. I'll be thinking of both of you often." With that, he stood and walked away without looking back.

As he got to the gates of the cemetery he saw a familiar van. _'Hobbes'_, he thought with a weak smile. It truly amazed him how quickly the little tiger tracked him down. Hands in his pockets, he shook his head and, eyes on his feet, made his way over to the van.

Hobbes was leaning against the hood watching him approach quietly. He opened the passenger side door for Darien to climbed in and closed the door behind him. Hobbes got in the drivers side and hesitated before turning the key in the ignition. There sat his lanky partner, staring out the window at nothing. A hollow, empty look in his eyes. He'd seen it before and refused to let it last any longer the necessary. He turned the ignition on and drove to one of the local bars they hung at sometimes.

As they pulled up, Darien turned and looked at him with an eyebrow cocked. "Trying to get me drunk?" He said with little humor.

"Nah, just thought it'd be good to share a beer with my partner after a hell of an assignment." He replied glancing out the side of his eyes at Darien.

Darien just looked at him. He realized Hobbes was uneasy, not sure how to help but desperate to do something. The look he gave Darien was almost as though he was asking if this was the right thing to do.

Darien shook his head with a sigh, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He got out and headed for the bar with Hobbes on his heels.

They sat in a corner, as far away from the commotion of the place as possible, staring into their amber drinks. Neither had said anything since they had taken their seats. The silence was deafening. It was more then Hobbes could take. So he raised his bottle and looked at Darien, meeting his eyes.

"To absent friends," he said softly.

Darien nodded. "To absent friends," and touched his bottle to Hobbes'.

Together they sipped their drinks remembering all those they'd lost. Bound together in grief, they were once again partners. Though little was said the silence was easier to handle. In that moment Darien felt close to Hobbes again. And that worried him. _'Everyone I gets close to dies,'_ he thought. He looked up at Hobbes who was glancing around the bar. No doubt doing a perimeter sweep or something like that. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until Hobbes joined Kevin and Allianora. He mulled this over in his mind while he sat in silence drinking his beer dedicated to those they'd lost…


End file.
